With the increased dedication of school districts to raising academic standards and abolishing social promotion, tremendous pressure has been placed on teachers and students to increase standardized test scores. While this may seem admirable from afar, its practical and real-life implications are usually not so bright. In fact, the drive toward higher standards often leads to tracking, skill pooling, and grade retention, all of which have inherent problems. Tracking, grouping, and retention are widely practiced in the United States and many other countries, and are based on both theory and research. Most commonly practiced in secondary schools, monitoring groups students into courses or sequences of courses of various levels of difficulty tailored to their performance levels. Skill grouping, most commonly practiced in elementary schools, assigns students within classrooms to homogeneous groups of similar ability. Grade retention requires students who have not met performance standards to repeat one or more grades. All three practices are based on the belief that children with similar abilities or performance levels can learn together more efficiently than heterogeneous students. Other theories and research suggest that these practices may be inefficient and reckless. Some argue, for example, that students retained in grade may experience a lowered self-concept, which can deter their progress and are less likely to meet grade-level standards. This is due, in part, to the fact that grade repetition alone does not address the causes of academic failure. Others reply that, on the contrary, such students would eventually fall further behind and drop out, whether or not they were retained. “Socially promoting” poorly prepared students would depreciate the value of high school diplomas for those who meet rigorous standards. Similarly, some argue that it is more efficient to teach subjects like math when students share similar skills. For example, it would seem difficult for consumers to learn math and calculus efficiently in a group. Still, it can be argued that faster learners can benefit from helping slower learners. Schools can also provide more classroom time and enhanced instructional services to at-risk students to remedy or prevent them from falling behind in the first place.
Retention
While there is no magic cure for the ills of retention, the alternatives must be examined before it is too late – that is, before a student is about to be retained. By studying the experiences of successful students and making the findings available to professionals, researchers can help teachers focus on using teaching strategies that have proven to be successful. The following tips may also be helpful.
• Encourages preschool enrollment to reduce retention rates.
• Requires full-day kindergarten.
• Provide remediation that is commensurate with children’s academic needs regardless of whether they are retained.
• Develop a strong network of advisers that allows teachers to get to know students.
• Maximize peer relationships through cooperative learning and mentoring.
• Shift to interest-based learning, where high school students are exposed to a career- or project-based education instead of the reading and test-taking practices now used.
• Extend the academic calendar to either year-round schooling or longer school days.
• Focus on retaining motivated and qualified teachers.
• Have teachers meet expectations for higher levels of curriculum and instruction.
The voices of researchers and professionals are not the only ones that should be heard. Parents also need to be more involved in helping their children avoid retention. Some ways to encourage parental involvement are:
• Develop “tip sheets” that contain helpful suggestions on how parents can be more involved in their children’s education.
• Develop education and outreach programs for parents.
• Don’t wait until students are at risk of failing; begin communication with parents at an early stage.
Grouping and tracking
Why do not retention, grouping, or tracking improve academic progress for most children? Unfortunately, in many schools, clustering and tracking has led to stagnant and pervasive courses designed to meet minimum curriculum standards. For true progress to be made, the intent, purpose, and design of clustered classes must be examined and a high level of integrity maintained. The following recommendations deserve further examination.
• View multi-age classrooms as a way to enrich children’s learning and development.
• Prioritize collaborative efforts between schools, employers, and higher education to support academic excellence.
• Have goal conferences with students. Integrate student self-assessments into decisions about their grouping.
• Provide stronger teacher and principal preparation courses that address diversity in learning styles and paces.
• Keep grouping flexible.
• The cluster should include high expectations, a rigorous curriculum, and equitable access to high-quality instruction.
• Promote cultural awareness that will help teachers meet the diverse needs of their students.
• Promote public awareness. Educate the community on the best ways to group students.
• Hold administrators, teachers, parents, and students accountable. Everyone must work together to achieve the optimal level of student success.